Choising a detector

[tweeta_bear]

Hello yall
Well here in a few months in coming into a large chunk of money and have found out that my atgold is lonely and wants a friend so i figured i would buy a PI detector to keep him company. I plan on taking a trip this coming yr to a remote area where i believe through some research that i will be able to find some decent size nuggets. The area i will be hunting in is a steam that has massive gravel bars on it (no sand 1 1/2" size rounded rock. Ive even found in some old books that say if you hike to the headwater and sluice you can get some good size nuggets. So my plan was to get a PI detector to scan these gravel bars. I dont believe there is a lot of scrap iron in this stream as it is high in wilderness area. Ive researched the ATX which i like. Ive seen some on minelabs GPx, Ctx, Sdc but not a lot. Then i ran across videos on a makro deephunter metal detector, it detected a large object at 190cm (6.2 feet) when they dug it up it was a radiator out of a car. I guess its also suppose to detect open cavities in the ground. So im a lil torn as to which one to get and no i dont want the most expensive one oh here is a small section of stream im talking about. These are the gravel bars im talking about scanning and there is miles of stream and the second pic is of the headwaters. I have found out that there was 2 gold mines up this draw at about 13,500 ft from way way way back in the day. Now its about an 8mile hike into wilderness area. Please Let me know what your thoughts are on what ive presented

 

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[IDdesertman]

For most places in Colorado, I'd be sticking with a VLF detector due to smaller gold in most areas rather than large nuggets.

Here's an article that might help:

15 Metal Detectors That Will Find Gold Nuggets - RareGoldNuggets.com

 

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[tweeta_bear]

I already have an ATGold... Was looking to pick up a PI detector.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

I'm not a prospector, but a relic hunter who uses the GPX and PI machines extensively on the East Coast and I'll offer my thoughts on this...

First of all, if you want a prospecting PI detector that is completely submersible to use in the creeks and streams and can handle the inevitable accidental drop in the water, you have two choices - the ATX or the SDC 2300. The SDC has the advantage of being quite a bit lighter and more compact, but you are limited to the 8" coil. It hits those tiny targets as well as anything on the market, but is of course the higher priced of the two machines. The ATX is heavy but performs very well on smaller targets with the current stock coil. It has the advantage of different coil options ( though we are not sure yet how the new coils will work) and is of course s bit cheaper. And it also has an advantage in EMI resistance- it will handle EMI biter than any PI machine on the market right now in my opinion.

But if you don't need 100% waterproof capabilities, it does open up the Minelab GPX series machines as an option to you. They have a ton of coil options, both factory and aftermarket to suit just about any situation. Coiltek and Detech both have excellent options with many of those being submersible... but you would have to use with care to keep the control box dry. And with the recent price drop in these detectors, they are price competitive when you consider the performance available, in them and especially if you search out a nice, used machine. You would however need to set it up to optimize the type of gold you expect to find (settings + coil)... but that's not hard to do.

Which leads me back to my experiences... On your larger pieces - especially higher conductors- the GPX will find targets deeper than the ATX.. but on smaller, lower conductor targets that difference is much narrower. In relic hunting situations for example in my use of both machines I find that the GPX has a significant advantage on Civil War bullets. I also find the advantage is reduced on something like cuff buttons at depth. It's still there, but not as pronounced. I would expect the same on nuggets.

Hope that helps-